Teacher-made learning resources in The pre-technology days

 昨晚Computer Assisted Language Learning一科，主題是blended Learning, 我談到促成Blended Learning 盛行的其中一個原因，是今天製作digital Learning resources以供學生作knowledge acquisition的部分,易如反掌。

課後回家途中，回想當年初為人師時是怎樣製作教材。當天用以分發的教材，主要是講義，要印製講義，先把一張蓝色的蠟紙插入打字機，然後打字，但如果打字有錯，便要用特別的白油塗在錯字上，待白油乾了才再打入正確的字，你可以想像這過程有多繁複！打完後，便把蠟紙交给工友去印製。這方法維持了很多年。

今天的教師製作digital resources,要文字有文字，要聲音有聲音，要圖畫有圖畫，要video 有video。要分發教材有Google Classroom, 有Microsoft Teams, ...他們很難想像當年的原始狀況。

但我仍慶幸出生於pre-IT年代，一來有得比較，令我有很多特別的經驗和回憶，二來當日後資訊科技和互聯網出現後，便覺得很有趣和很好玩，成為我終身學習的重要部分。

ChatGPT is really in the know

 愈來愈愛ChatGPT, 我不玩computer games, 對gaming 的jargon一無所知，但因著一個project, 我要知道兒子以前喜歡玩，由兩隊在森林對壘以赢得一個quest的computer game 的統稱。以前做google search, 只會得到一系列的連结。現在一問chatGPT便得到肯定的答案。

L and T Expo 2023

 每年L and T Expo, 最大的得益其實不是內容，因為那麼多的講座，那麼多攤位展覽，一時之間不易消化。最大的得益：⑴看到學與教的最新發展，例如今年的AI in Education, (2)被同工的創新和專業精神所激勵，提醒自己要繼續學習。

AIMagic for oral AI-generated chats

The mobile app called AIMagic which I checked out, also has a function for oral AI-generated chats. I tried it, and below are my comments at the moment. 

1. It differs from other AI-Chat tools in that this one is for ORAL converations with the app. 

2. One can choose between BrE and AmE. 

3. The interlocuter is a penguin. 

4. Most of the time, the user has to initiate something to say. Otherwise, the penguin will remain silent. 

5. As for the content, it's mainly casual chatting. You can't ask the penguin a substantial, content-laden, question. 

6. Even if you ask the penguin to tell a story, the story is sketchy. And it doesn't help if you invite 'him' to elaborate on a point. 

Conclusion: 

1. It's only OK for casual conversations. 

2. The user (e.g., a school student) has to be able to initiate things to say. 

3. The interlocuter is a penguin; it cannot take on other roles (e.g., a schoolteacher; a boss; a doctor). 

 

AIMagic for turning a story text into a picture book

 I visited the L and T Expo 2023 today. The main theme of this year's Expo is on AI in Education. 

I ran into a mobile AI app called AIMagic, which, amongst other functions, can turn a handwritten story into a picture book. 

After the visit, I installed the app and tried it out using a story I wrote up quickly. Unlike the sample resulting story book hard copy shown in the Expo, the story book generated from the ad hoc story which I had written displays a few problems: 

1. It sometimes changes my wording. Unless this is for correcting the grammatical mistakes in the original draft, it is not a good idea to change the writer's use of language (e.g., a school kid). We want the writer student to have a strong sense of ownership of the story. 

2. But more crucially, it's the pictures being generated. They are not consistent in terms of the looks of the characters in the story. In my ad hoc story, there were three characters: Peter, Paul, and Mary. The resulting picture book spanned about 12 pages, but in the 12 pages, Peter, Paul, and Mary assumed different looks in different pages. 

3. There are other additional characters that appear in the picture, even though the story script has focussed on a certain number of characters (in my case, three). This is not only distracting, but will also affect the storyline. 

All in all, while the idea behind the app is laudable (to encourage kids to write, as they can easily convert their handwritten stories into picture books), the technology is not mature enough.